A Discovery of a Lifetime

Crystal didn’t know exactly how she ended up in this situation. She had been born a regular girl with an average family, but that all ended 6 years ago. Her parents had left for their Friday date night and never returned. Another driver had had a sudden stroke while driving and ended up crossing the line directly in front of my parents. The head-on collision killed the 3 people instantly.

The next day Crystal was forced to pack up her things and was sent to a home for children. She was 10 years old and silent, probably still in shock from the news of her parent’s death. No one glanced at her or thought about adopting her and when she finally spoke again after 2 years, it was probably too late. That was when the owner of the home approached her about joining the team of older kids in a special job.

She wanted to find some purpose in her life other than school, so Crystal said yes and her life changed. After school, she would return home and train. The sessions would involve running, self-defense, and stealth. Last year, after three long years of training, Crystal had finally been given her first solo job. He never had them do anything like a bank, however, some had chosen to rob stores. Crystal had only ever done homes and a single museum.

This job was the most mysterious. The house was an old victorian style and, as Crystal had discovered, full of secret tunnels. The owner of the house was an old man, no one really knew what he did other than leaving town a lot. Crystal had become quite the hacker over the years and hadn’t found anything about the man other than this house. He was obviously rich, which is why my boss wanted me to hit the house. The fact that he seemed off the grid was either a good thing for us or a bad thing.

He had left town this morning and, normally, he was gone for several days. So, Crystal had thought today would’ve been the perfect time to strike. Now, she was hiding in a small secret passageway staring through a peephole into a strange room. It was full of candles and books. Maps with strange names and crystals standing tall on pedestals.  She had entered thinking she’d find a highly valuable vault, instead, it seemed she had stumbled into a strange world instead. The reason she had run in here and wasn’t moving was because of the man standing in the room.

The old man who had left this morning was back. She had heard him coming down the hall early enough to hide. He’d just barely stepped into the room when she paused to look through the peephole. The man took a deep breath before approaching a mirror framed with crystals on the opposite side of the room. His back was to Crystal, but she could see his face perfectly through the mirror.

Crystal watched as he started to open his mouth and speak, but a frown pulled her lips down as she realized she couldn’t understand what he was saying. She was pretty sure he wasn’t even speaking English. As the man spoke a strange feeling filled the air, it felt heavy and warm. Almost like the room had suddenly become very humid. Crystal shifted slightly, but couldn’t pull her eye away from the peephole. Curiosity’s firm grip held her in place.

The grey hair on the man’s head suddenly started to grow brighter. And not in a lighter shade of grey, but it looked more like a blue glow stick. The roots slowly shifted into a darker shade right in front of her. Crystal didn’t know how long she watched, but eventually, she found herself feeling very light-headed. At first, she thought it was the thickness of the air before she realized she wasn’t breathing. Watching the man as aptly as she had been, Crystal had completely forgotten about breathing. 

When Crystal was finally able to stop the swimming in her head by taking a few steady breaths, she refocused on the man. She had to blink a few times and even tried switching which eye was looking through the hole. Nothing changed the image in front of her. In the room stood a man. He wore the same clothes as the old man, but where the old man’s posture had leaned forward just slightly this man’s stood proud. Where the old man’s short hair was this and white, this one’s was dark brown and full. 

When the man turned around and Crystal was barely able to hold back a gasp. She had looked at enough pictures of this man to recognize him. His cheekbones, eyes, and Jawline were all the same. The wrinkles were all gone. Instead of a pale old face, there was a tan and rejuvenated face. There was no mistaking that it was the same man, after all, she had been watching the whole time.

She frowned when she remember there had actually been a short time in which she hadn’t been watching. Maybe, two men had switched out while she had closed her eyes to breathe. Maybe, she was actually looking at the old man’s son instead.  A quick glance around the room told her there was no one else in the room, well unless they were in a blind spot right next to her peephole. But Crystal had only watched one man enter and hadn’t noticed the door open at all.

Besides, if there had been a clever switch while she wasn’t watching, that would mean the owner of the house was aware of my presence. It would mean, that he knew exactly when

I had closed my eyes. That thought gave Crystal chills. How would he even know? The more she thought about that possibility though, it didn’t make sense.

The only explanation was unimaginable. The strange words, the glow, the sudden change. It all made fit, but Crystal couldn’t quite believe it. But, whether she could believe it or not, it was the only explanation that possibly fit. Magic. The man had used magic to turn his old body young. Why would he walk around as an old man though?

She watched as the man approached the map and Crystal realized it might be the same reason she wore wigs and glasses. He was disguising himself, hiding from someone as an old man in a no-name suburb. Every time the old man had “left” was it possible that he actually just returned himself to his true form? This was all an illusion. Would her adventure into this old man’s house pull up anything of value?

The man was mumbling to himself as he studied the map. Crystal may have been able to sneak away, but she found herself just watching the man. She didn’t know how long she’d stood there until the man finally straightened with a nod to himself before he said something and poofed. Literally, there was a popping sound, a rush of air that caused a puff of dust to rise where his feet had once been.

Crystal had stopped breathing again as she stared at the empty space. Maybe this was why she’d never seen him return to his house after “leaving”. He could teleport. Maybe it was easier to digest the teleportation since she’d already seen the magic. Maybe she’d just decided that she was already crazy, so why not.

It wasn’t until a spout of dizziness struck her again, that she remembered to breathe. The man was gone and Crystal found herself reentering the room. Her eyes found the old books, slightly in a daze. A desire had started to grow inside of her. If the old man could use magic, maybe she could too. The ability to teleport, go invisible, or change her appearance would be invaluable.

Her eyes glanced over the books, none of which had titles she could understand. Just as she was about to give up, a book caught her eye. The spine said “Magica Cor”, she didn’t understand what it said, but her hand was reaching for it before she could even think. Her hand grasped the book and pulled it toward her. The longer she held the book, a weird thrumming feeling was spreading through her hand. It seemed to be pulsing in time with her heartbeat.

“Open me,” came a simple command to her mind. A small part of her wondered if it was a good idea to listen to a magical book, but the command overpowered that caution. She opened the book and a light suddenly filled her mind. It was so bright, she was pretty sure it was real, but it didn’t hurt her eyes. The light filled her being and Crystal knew something fundamental had been changed within her. Maybe it had always been there, but either way, the book had given her something.

Crystal closed the book and slipped it into her bag, the man would probably notice it missing but she couldn’t leave it. As Crystal left the house later after finding a small bag of diamonds in a different room, her life would be different from here on out. Today had opened her eyes to a hidden world.